A masterful, moving novel about age, memory, and family from
one of the true literary icons of our time.
Ptolemy Grey is ninety-one years old and has been all but
forgotten-by his family, his friends, even himself-as he
sinks into a lonely dementia. His grand-nephew, Ptolemy's
only connection to the outside world, was recently killed in
a drive-by shooting, and Ptolemy is too suspicious of anyone
else to allow them into his life. until he meets Robyn, his
niece's seventeen-year-old lodger and the only one willing
to take care of an old man at his grandnephew's funeral.
But Robyn will not tolerate Ptolemy's hermitlike existence.
She challenges him to interact more with the world around
him, and he grasps more firmly onto his disappearing
consciousness. However, this new activity pushes Ptolemy
into the fold of a doctor touting an experimental drug that
guarantees Ptolemy won't live to see age ninety- two but
that he'll spend his last days in feverish vigor and
clarity. With his mind clear, what Ptolemy finds-in his own
past, in his own apartment, and in the circumstances
surrounding his grand-nephew's death-is shocking enough to
spur an old man to action, and to ensure a legacy that no
one will forget.
In The Last Days of Ptolemy Grey, Mosley captures the
compromised state of his protagonist's mind with profound
sensitivity and insight, and creates an unforgettable pair
of characters at the center of a novel that is sure to
become a true contemporary classic.